


Misdirection

by justanexercise



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-18
Updated: 2015-10-18
Packaged: 2018-04-26 22:35:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5023150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justanexercise/pseuds/justanexercise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shaw receives a cryptic text from Root and a gorgeous dress and watch at the door. It's most definitely not a date but a mission, because Root's text leads her to a magic show.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Misdirection

Getting a cryptic text from Root isn’t far from the norm for Sameen Shaw, but getting a text and an accompanying delivery to her door is. Now Shaw’s decked out in a Rolex watch and fancy black dress that perfectly highlights her cleavage, damn Root for knowing her style. She follows the coordinates on the phone and arrives at a packed theatre.

“You Sam?” asks a security guard.

“Yes.”

He moves aside, letting Shaw into the theatre without a ticket. The few guests loitering around are dressed in fancier clothing, not quite dinner at a gala but not a night out at the movies either. She follows the directions on her phone. Straight down, left, right, right, left. Shaw raises an eyebrow at the polite applause from inside. She spots a few more guards outside the hallway, a bit much for a show.

Entering the amphitheater, Shaw seats herself furthest away from the stage, noting four exit doors and a dozen more routes to escape. She sets her eyes on the stage and blinks. Root. She’s wearing a ridiculous top hat and matching tuxedo. Her eyes sweep down, thank God Root’s in slacks and not fishnet stockings. But damn that image won’t get out of Shaw’s head.

Shaw shakes out of her day dream, noticing that all eyes are on her. She furrows her eyebrows, squinting against the spotlight hitting her face.

“Yes you,” Root says, gesturing with her white gloves. “Please come up to the stage.”

Grimacing, Shaw smiles politely and follows the ushers to the stage. Root’s going to die painfully and slowly choking on that magic wand. 

“And your name?” Root asks, planting a kiss on Shaw’s hand.

Shaw snatches her hand back, resisting the urge to punch her in the face. “Sam.”

“Sam,” Root presents and claps her hands, the audience following her. “Now Sam, I have a problem.”

“Uh huh.”

“I lost my rabbit.”

The audience chuckles. Shaw shakes her head.

“So?”

“Can you see if it’s in my hat?” Root takes it off and hands it to Shaw.

Shaw reaches inside, finding nothing, she flips it around for the audience to see, empty.

“Hmmm...oh wait, it might be in my coat.” Root splays out her arms, smirking at Shaw.

Suppressing a groan, Shaw pats down Root, ignoring the gun and knives and pulling out a toy bunny from her pocket.

“Oh!” Root takes it and pouts. She chucks it into the crowd. “That’s not right.”

Shaw crosses her arms, waiting.

“Ahhh, can you check the hat again?” Root asks.

Shaw picks it up from the floor and once again reaches inside, still no rabbit.

“I guess you just don’t have the touch,” Root coos and takes the hat back. She bops Shaw on the nose with it and out comes a rabbit, jumping on Shaw’s head. Root takes a small bow at the applause and Shaw grabs the rabbit from her head, holding it out in her hands.

“Did you stuff it in the hat?” Shaw asks, loud enough to be picked up by the microphone.

Root winks to her and the audience. “That’s a secret.” She turns back to the audience and beams. “Now, Sam and I are going to need a big strong man to assist us, are there any here?”

Shaw huffs, glaring at the back of Root’s head. A few men pop their hands up and Root points to the one at the front of the audience. He grins and vaults up the stage in one jump.

“Now what’s your name?” Root asks.

“Tommy,” he says and gives Root a lascivious grin.

Root politely smiles and whips off the sheet off the desk behind them. She gestures for Tommy to grab the heavy chains and padlocks up to Shaw.

“Now,” Root whispers, laying the chains on Shaw’s shoulders and wrapping them around her arms and waist. “Right breast pocket, put it on your watch until the red light goes green and put it back.” Root secures the padlock against Shaw’s chest and locks it. “I hope you can still hold your breath for two minutes.”

“What?” Shaw asks.

The curtains part and several stagehands push a large tank of water into the center. Shaw’s eyes twitch.

“Tommy, if you could check her.”

Tommy invades Shaw’s space, tugging the chains harder than necessary. Shaw holds her breath against his horribly strong aftershave. Tommy drapes himself across her and he pinches her butt. Shaw twitches and using the distraction to slip her hand into his jacket to pull out a thumb drive. She slips her hand back under the chains before he moves away.

Root prances around the stage, revving the audience up as Shaw steps up the small staircase to the top of the water tank.

“Ready?” Root asks.

Shaw nods, jumping in. The curtains descend and Shaw twists her hands out, putting the thumb drive across her watch. The face turns red. Still clasping the two together, Shaw tucks her stomach and reaches up into her hair to grab a bobby pin. She goes to work on the lock with one hand, watching the seconds tick by.

One minute and 50 seconds.

She takes out the padlock, the chains sliding off her. The clock face remains red.

Nine seconds.

Eight seconds.

Shaw tucks the thumb drive into her cleavage. She swims to the top and presses against the cover. Locked. Fucking Root. Shaw feels for the lever around the edges, nothing there.

Six seconds.

She flips in the water, pulling herself into a tight ball and rams her heels into the cover. It loosens. Shaw swims out, pulling herself up just as the curtains open.

The crowd cheers as she drips all over the stage. Tommy gives her a thumbs up, dropping the axe he’d been ready to swing if things had gotten bad. He takes the blanket from Root and pulls it around her, copping a feel of her butt. It gives her the perfect opportunity to slip the thumb drive back into his jacket. Shaw suppresses the urge to stomp her heel onto his foot.

-

“What did I just copy?” Shaw asks, towel drying her hair in Root’s newly acquired car.

“Watch please,” Root asks, holding out her hand.

Shaw unclasps the Rolex, putting it in Root’s palm and going back to squeezing water out of her hair.

Root plugs it into her laptop, scrolling through the information with a burgeoning smile. “That was the blueprints to the new NSA building they plan to build in Manhattan.”

“Are we breaking into the NSA?”

“Maybe. Not for a while though.” Root loosens her bowtie and reaches behind them to grab a bag from the back seat. “Put this on.”

“Now you give me dry clothes?” Shaw throws the wet towel against Root’s face to cover it. “Keep that on.”

Root leans back in her seat, no doubt a pout behind the towel. “It’s not like I haven’t seen it all before Sameen.”

Shaw peels off her wet dress and tosses it into the backseat. Tossing and turning into the narrow passenger seat, Shaw tugs on tight jeans and a black shirt. She yanks the towel from Root’s face and rubs at her hair again. “That it?”

Root revs the engine, giving Shaw a smirk. “Maybe. But there is a steak for two all ready for us in 10 minutes.”

“Fine.”

Shaw shakes her head, concentrating on the road and not at Root’s triumphant expression. “Did you really pull a live rabbit out of the hat?”

“Hmmm…”

“Root.”

“A magician never reveals her secret.”

Shaw places a hand on Root’s thigh  and squeezes. She plays with the collar of Root’s tuxedo shirt. “You sure about that?”

“It’ll take some very convincing arguments.”

Shaw pulls back, glancing at Root swallowing. Oh yea, she’ll do some convincing tonight.


End file.
